The present invention relates to containers for storing, carrying and shipping reels of motion picture film, videotape, magnetic tape and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to reel carriers having bumpers or feet mounted thereon, made of a slip and skid resistant material.
Containers molded of high impact plastic having separable fitted covers are presently widely used for storing, carrying and shipping, by mail or otherwise, reels of motion picture film and reels of cartridges of magnetic tape, such as videotape. Two exceptional reel carriers of this type are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,153 which issued to Fattori Jan. 10, 1967 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,789 which issued to Fattori et al. Aug. 29, 1978, each patent being assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. The disclosures of these two patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The reel carrier described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,153 comprises an open top box having a substantially flat bottom wall and upstanding peripheral side wall. The bottom wall is of a size and shape to receive the flat side of a reel thereon in substantially concentric relation and includes four rounded corners extending beyond the periphery of the reel. A separable fitted cover is provided having a substantially flat top wall shaped to conform to the box bottom wall and downwardly extending side wall which when in the closed position telescopingly engages the box bottom side wall. A pair of registering wells depressed inwardly from the external surfaces of the top wall and bottom wall respectively are disposed at each of the four corners. Each set of registering wells includes a pair of aligned apertures therethrough having registering diametrical enlargements. A tubular rotatable latch is provided which extends from the top well to the bottom well. The top end of the latch is provided with a radial flange having a diametrical finger grip flange extending upwardly therefrom. At the opposed lower end of the latch a diametrical set of radial projections extend outwardly from the latch and are adapted to pass through the diametrical enlargements in the apertures of the top and bottom wells. Rotation of the finger grip flange in the top well rotates the latch, and thus the radial projections at the lower end of the latch, so that they are no longer in alignment with the diametrical enlargements of the bottom well. This effectively binds the cover to the bottom box of the container for safe and protected carrying, storing and shipping of any reeled contents.
These reel carriers provide a number of distinct advantages over prior art carriers. For example, the self-contained locking means provided in the containers eliminates the need for exterior binding straps. The double thickness side wall construction and high impact strength plastic parts of the container provide a satisfactory degree of shock and stress resistance so that the containers can be air lifted substantially without damaging the container or contents. The containers are neat, attractive, easy to use and may be reused an extended number of times.
The carriers described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,789 provide similarly strong and shock resistant reel carriers which are provided with self-contained latch constructions having a dual capacity, namely, of locking the cover of the container to the box bottom and of connecting the locked container to a similar underlying container positioned in stacked nested relation. These cases provide a practical means for interconnecting a plurality of containers adapted to receive one reel into a single shipping unit for shipping multiple reels of related subject matter.
While the advantages of the above-described reel carriers cannot be gainsaid, it has become apparent that the containers could desirably be made more ship and skid resistant. The reel carriers tend to slip or slide on inclined surfaces. In addition, it has been observed that the containers slip when placed on conveyor belt assemblies. The coefficient of friction between the conveyor belts and the reel containers is not high enough to prevent the containers from slipping backwards on upwardly inclined belt segments or slipping at junctions of two conveyor belt segments. More particularly, because of slippage, effective transfer of the container from one belt segment to another does not always occur. Often, the reel carrier will straddle the junction between the belts and slip at both sides. The reel carrier thus remains stationery in the midst of a flow of moving packages, thereby causing jam-ups in flow which may even knock other packages off of the conveyor belts.
The magnitude of the slippage problem can be appreciated in the context of large scale automated shipping and mailing departments, such as those used in the United States Postal Service. The extremely large volume of packages which are processed makes the problem of flow stoppages, tie-ups, and spill offs even more acute because of the large numbers of other packages which will be effected. The jam-ups often require that the whole processing system be shut down so that the packages can be redistributed on the conveyor belts and normal flow resumed. Packages which fall off of the conveyor belts may often go unnoticed, resulting in serious shipping delays. In any event, the slippage of the reel carriers is costly because additional manpower is required to oversee an otherwise automated system. The United States Postal Service has found the problem so troublesome that it has issued a Postal regulation to the effect that in order for reel carriers to be shipped via U.S. mail, they must meet minimum slip and skid resistance levels.
In copending application, Ser. No. 373,415, filed concurrently herewith and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,990, issued Oct. 16, 1984 and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, it is disclosed that reel carriers may be made substantially slip and skid resistant if the parts of the reel carrier are molded from a molding composition comprising from about 75% to 85% by weight high density polyethylene and from about 15% to 25% of a thermoplastic rubber, by weight of the overall composition. The thermoplastic rubber-modified polyethylene molding compositions provide the molded reel carriers with an improved coefficient of friction such that they exhibit a frictional affinity for conveyor belts and other surfaces, thereby reducing the slippage problems associated with shipping and handling of prior art reel carriers. These molded reel carriers are acceptable, however, the benefits provided by these no slip carriers can only be realized by molding new reel carrier parts.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide slip and skid resistant properties to previously manufactured reel carriers.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide a high impact strength reel carrier which is substantially slip and skid resistant on most surfaces.
It is a further object of the subject invention to provide a reel carrier for storing, carrying and shipping reels of motion picture film capable of being conveyed by conventional automated shipping equipment which will not slip and slide to cause jam-ups in automated conveyor belt processes.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide reel carriers which are acceptable for shipment through the U.S. Mail.
It is still another object of the subject invention to provide durable, convenient and attractive reel carriers which may be reused an extended number of times.